gentoo-utils

This repository aims to deliver useful tools for Gentoo Linux.

Installer for Gentoo on Hetzner's arm64/amd64 Cloud Servers

Why

If you want to setup Gentoo Linux on arm64 or amd64 hardware in the cloud, then

• Checkout Hetzner and their Linux based Cloud servers for arm64 or amd64. While Gentoo is not amoung the prepared ISOs you can install it manually, too.
• Use the documentation and installer script below to simplify the Gentoo setup.

Feature overview of this approach

• Cloud server costs: As there are no setup fees and a price per hour, testing this setup is affordable. Servers can be deleted again at any time to avoid paying for it.
• The installer script entirely wipes the server disk (from a rescue system), sets up Gentoo Linux and also builds a vanilla Linux kernel without user interaction in at most 25 minutes (for the minimum 2-core server).
• After installation you will be able to ssh into Gentoo Linux.

How

1. Get an account at Hetzner's.

   • Read about the Cloud offers at Hetzner.com.
   • Register an account without fee. Authorization may work entirely online.

2. Create a server.

   • When you have your account, enter the Cloud administrative dashboard.
   • The following procedure configures the new cloud server, but also sets up another arbitrary Linux OS which will not actually be used.
   • Select Servers and then Add Server.
   • Go through all necessary configuration steps. The minimum required here are: Location, Image (use Debian which sets up in seconds), Type (use vCPU + Arm64 or vCPU + Amd64), Networking (do not disable IPv4), SSH keys (crucial: Paste your ssh pubkey), the rest is not required.
   • Wait some seconds for the server to be setup.
   • You will receive an IP address. You may access the system via ssh but this is not required.

3. Reboot the newly installed server into the Rescue mode.

   • Select Servers from the menu on the left.
   • Select your server.
   • Select Rescue from the menu and then Enable rescue & power cycle.
   • Select linux64 and your previously selected ssh pubkey.

4. Run the installer script on the rescue server.

   • Wait some seconds until the rescue system has booted.
   • Enter the rescue system: ssh root@IPADDR.
   • Download the Installer Script, make it executable and run it:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/m1027/gentoo-utils/main/scripts/installer/gentoo-setup-on-hetzner.sh
chmod u+x gentoo-setup-on-hetzner.sh
./gentoo-setup-on-hetzner.sh ARCH  # <- Replace ARCH with arm64 or amd64

Enjoy!

If the installation fails

• The script is designed to skip downloads when re-run after failures.
• In case you need to reboot into the rescue system again, remember to enable the rescue mode again, before rebooting (normally, rebooting the rescue system boots your server build next).
• There is a vnc-like view for running servers. Locate the console icon in Hetzner's web interface.

Known issues && Todo

• The created kernel will be stripped down during installation but probably not to the bare minium.
• Due to changed fingerprints ssh may refuse to connect to your server. You may need to edit your ~/.ssh/known_hosts once.
• For amd64 (not arm64): While ssh access works, Hetzner's vnc-like view for running servers may not yet show a correct console buffer to login from there.